You’re Not Here Anymore - Postgame Saiouma DANGANRONPA V3 SPOILERS
by SHSL Novelist
Summary: [MAJOR DANGANRONPA V3 SPOILERS] Shuichi escapes Danganronpa, and after moving schools and starting anew with Himiko and Maki, he meets a familiar face... Saiouma / Oumasai Postgame
1. Prologue

Saihara Shuichi, Harukawa Maki, and Yumeno Himiko. The survivors of the 53rd Danganronpa. Crawling out of the hellhole they once called 'home', they felt something was... off.

"Maybe something happened with your magic, Himiko."

Shuichi suggested, before Himiko quickly shot back,

"The Ultimate Mage's magic has never misfired!"

All broadcasts of Danganronpa 53 had been shut off. Only those who'd seen the premiere broadcasts of each episode had managed to remember it. Now, the few survivors were walking out of the hospital- but... were they truly the only survivors?

"I'm glad we made it out alive, at the very least..."

Maki commented.

Of course, this wasn't truly the end.

It never has been.


	2. NewBeginning

After a few weeks of working in retail, Maki, Himiko, and Shuichi finally had enough money to buy themselves an apartment, along with entry to a cheap high school. The uniforms were also a bit expensive, but entry was cheap and thus they applied, getting in.

On the walk to school, they could hear whispers and mutters. Most of them were about Danganronpa 53 ending, but mainly about the characters which were right before them. Of course, they ignored these people and continued on, into their new school.

Their classes were scattered across the whole day. Himiko had 2 out of 6 classes with Shuichi, while Maki had 3. Shuichi sat down in his home room, with nobody in his whole class. He had a navy blue jacket, and the pants of the same colour. This was the start of a new year for everyone else.

Suddenly, the teacher walked inside, right as the bell had rung.

"Good Morning, Class. I will be your teacher for this semester- Ota Sensei."

Ota spoke to the class, as the other students were finding their seats.

"Now, let's begin the semester with introductions."

Shuichi perked up from that. He took barely any notice to his surroundings as he paid only attention to his teacher. After a few people, it was Shuichi's turn.

"Hello! I'm Shuichi Saihara. I hope we can all become good friends..."

Of course, his name and voice, along with his appearance brought murmurs and whispers over the entire class- all for everyone except one. Shuichi didn't pay much attention as he sat down once more, and waited the rest of class out.

Immediately after the bell rung, Shuichi got up and quickly walked into the hallway. He wanted to get to his next class quickly. However, a familiar voice called out to him from behind.

"U-Uhm... excuse me, S-Saihara?"

Shuichi shot around. It couldn't have really been... him, could it?!

"O-Oh-! I'm sorry- do you want me to call you Saihara-chan...? O-Oh- maybe... uhm... Saihara-Sensei?"

The short, purple-haired Supreme Leader stood before him... in the same navy blue uniform as him. Shuichi stood in shock.

"Uhm... I, maybe... I-I'm from your homeroom class. Do you know where the chemistry room would be..?"

Shuichi was speechless. The small boy which... was dead... was alive, and standing right in front of him. He wasn't mocking him or even annoying him- he seemed gentle and shy... but Shuichi just stood there, shocked. Kokichi was covered in bandages.

"K-Kokichi... I..."

_Is this just some sick joke? Something **they** did just to toy with me? What, is Kaede gonna come out here too?_

"I- You- know my name? Barely anyone ever pays attention to that, haha..."

Kokichi said shyly. Shuichi still didn't believe what he was seeing. Without a clue of what to do, with the most speed he could Shuichi sprinted into Kokichi, catching him into a hug with the tears leaking from his eyes.

"S-Saihara-Senpai?!"

Saihara-Senpai... hah, ridiculous. Was he... being serious?

"You... I'm so glad atleast_ one _of you survived..."

Shuichi muttered. He would've never expected to see one of his friends again...

"S-Saihara... get it together!"

Kokichi tried to get Shuichi to stop crying. He didn't seem to remember a thing.

"K-Kokichi, you..."

Shuichi almost lost all hope.

"You _don't remember?_"

Kokichi gulped, as Shuichi stared at him intensely.

_Please... Kokichi, say that it's a lie. Say that it's just a lie._

"I-I'm sorry, Saihara-Senpai... I... don't remember a thing."

Shuichi couldn't stand it. _Senpai?_

"Kokichi..."

Shuichi gripped him tighter.

"Call me Saihara-Chan."

He needed one last memory... one last way he could remember any of his friends... any of them at all. Kokichi nodded, feeling a bit intimidated.

"S-Saihara-Chan."

Shuichi hugged tighter, getting even more emotional as people stared as they walked by. Suddenly, the bell had rung- and that was the end of free block- both Shuichi and Kokichi had to be in class.

"Oh... I have to go, Kokichi- I... I'll see you later."

Shuichi said, before running off. Kokichi still hadn't gotten directions to the chemistry room yet...


	3. Discovery

"I'm telling you; Kokichi was here!"

Shuichi told Maki and Himiko as they had walked through the halls.

"That's... impossible, but- wasn't he crushed under the press? He's... He's dead."

Himiko replied, before Maki tuned in-

"Unless that sneaky little rat survived... and Kaito was killed for no reason..."

_That... I don't think that's the case._

"I don't think that's the case. He was... different."

Shuichi commented.

"How So?"

Himiko asked, before spotting Kokichi walking out of the nurse's office down the hall. Maki began sprinting down the hall, and Shuichi and Himiko followed- but were far behind, considering Maki's athletics. Before they had a chance to say anything, Maki sprinted and put Kokichi into a chokehold, raising him into the air, right by his neck where the bandages were.

"Alright, you little rat- tell me- how did you survive?! How did you survive?! Did you get Kaito killed for no reason?! Out with it!!"

Maki yelled. She immediately lost her temper, but instead of being greeted by an annoying and teasing child- Kokichi was quick to doubt her expectations. As she looked up, a crying, innocent Kokichi stayed in her chokehold.

"P-Please... stop... it hurts so much..!!"

Kokichi was genuinely crying, with an expression on his face that could resemble a puppy's. Maki, surprised by this immediately dropped the small boy and looked at Himiko and Shuichi.

"What the hell is going on?!"

Shuichi looked down. A few of Kokichi's bandages had fallen off his neck, and his neck was covered in burns, by the wrapping of his arms and head. He laid on the ground, sobbing.

"Maki... this is what I was saying, don't assault random people even if they're Kokichi!"

Himiko said, as Shuichi bent down.

"Kokichi... what happened?"

Kokichi looked up, in pain. He noticed Shuichi and immediately got up and jumped into a hug with him, he seemed to like Shuichi's embrace.

"I-It happened in Chemistry..."

Kokichi remnanted. "A few kids thought it would be funny to spill highly acidic acid on my head and say they tripped..."

Tears soaked up his eyes. Shuichi looked at Maki, Who was crossing her arms.

"That's BS. Kokichi is just lying again."

Maki scoffed.

"Maki... Kokichi... he's..."

Shuichi looked at her.

"He's not like the one we know."

Shuichi replied, as Kokichi continued to hug, paying attention to the words they were saying.

"I-Is this some dumb prank?!"

Himiko asked, looking around.

"It's not, Himiko..."

Maki sighed,

"I don't know _what's _happening, but... I know that this isn't Kokichi. Or... atleast, not the one _we _knew."

Himiko nodded in agreement, before the bell that signalled the end of the day had rung. They were in study hall the period before, and Maki, Himiko, and Shuichi went to the bathroom to chat. But, Shuichi got up, and waved goodbye to Kokichi and began walking home.


	4. Confusion

On the walk home, Maki and Himiko were questioning a lot of things.

"If Kokichi was here... maybe... maybe Kaito or Angie... or even Tenko might be here?"

Himiko pointed out.

"We can't know that for sure. We don't even know how he had survived, and now he's acting completely different..."

Shuichi commented. Then, a few voices rang out of the nearby alleyway.

"We can just throw her into the ocean for a bit. She can swim, right?"

One voice claimed.

"Still, she could easily die if she is still wounded, we have to be careful..."

Another one said.

"We should just leave it at this."

A familiar voice called.

"Wow, Kaede. You're such a party pooper..."

_Kaede?_

_That... That's not possible... is it?!_

Shuichi immediately turned around and began sprinting towards the sources. Himiko and Maki were confused, but still continued to run alongside Shuichi. Upon arriving in the alleyway, they were met with a group of people, all in school uniforms from a prestigious school from the other side of town. In the midst of the crowd whom were staring the three down, was a familiar face.

"K-Kaede..?!"

Shuichi yelled, as the familiar face shot him a glare.

"How do you... know my name?"

Shuichi cowered at that. Of course, if Kokichi was different- maybe... Kaede would be too.

"What are you doing here? What's in that cooler?"

Maki yelled, now shifting her focus to a large water cooler which was in restraints.

"None of your buisness."

One of the members of the gang snapped. Himiko looked scared, and Shuichi was confused.

"Kaede, why... why are you acting like this?"

Shuichi doubted this was her. This wasn't... the _real _Kaede. Was it?

"Why do you think?"

Kaede scoffed, looking at Shuichi as if he was a maggot crawling around in the dirt.

"I don't care for anyone here. Even disgusting idiots like you, who claim to know me... or the "real me" deserve to be shoved into the dirt."

Kaede mocked.

Disgusting Idiots..?

She truly did mean what she said in her Danganronpa Appliance tape.

**_I'm perfect for a killing game. I don't have any hope in humanity._**

Of course, this took Shuichi off guard, so he was rather surprised when Kaede pulled out a baseball bat. She looked rather threatening. Maki scoffed,

"So, you're gonna play it like that, huh?"

She said, getting into a fighting stance. But Himiko looked nervous.

"Everyone... we have to get out of here!"

Shuichi yelled, grabbing Maki's wrist and running, Himiko following.

_That... couldn't have been Kaede. _

Shuichi pondered. As they had gotten back into their crusty apartment, Himiko had a lot of questions.

"T-That... That was Kaede!"

Himiko said, rather surprised.

"I... can't believe it."

Shuichi could barely get the image of Kaede out of his mind. The kind, compassionate, and caring girl Shuichi knew- wasn't... her. Of course... it was all fiction.


	5. Grief

Saihara continued the long treck to school. The morning was foggy, and he couldn't get the thought of Kaede off his mind. Saihara was walking alone, as he told Maki and Himiko not to wait for him (he was in the shower.)

Suddenly, a voice from behind called to him, snapping him out of his trance.

"Saihara-chan!"

Shuichi spun around, to see the purple-haired gremlin running to get to his side.

"I'm glad I caught up to you, Saihara-chan..."

Kokichi said, catching his breath.

"Where are Harukawa-san and Yumeno-chan?"

_More honorifics... and use of their last names. So much respect..._

Shuichi pointed ahead.

"They've already begun going to school. I was a bit late getting ready so I told them not to wait."

Shuichi explained. Kokichi nodded,

"I see... then, should we keep going? We could be late."

Kokichi suggested. Shuichi nodded,

"Yeah. Let's go."

They began to treck up the ridiculously steep hill once again.

"What games do you like to play?"

Kokichi asked Shuichi.

"Ah- I, eh, don't play games too often..."

Shuichi replied. Kokichi looked a bit gloomy, before suggesting,

"Maybe you could come to my house sometime..? And I could maybe show you some of my favourite games..."

Shuichi nodded,

"That'd be great. I'd love to spend some time with you, Kokichi."

They continued to walk.

"Have you ever heard of... Danganronpa..?"

Shuichi asked. He was a bit scared to ask...

"I've heard of it, but... I've never seen it. I'm... It seems a tad bit gory. And, erm, scary... getting trapped in a school and being forced to kill one another..."

Kokichi replied with a shudder, before quickly rebounding,

"It's n-not like I'm hating on your interests, though! I-If you like Danganronpa, that's fine too!"

Shuichi smiled a bit, with a bit of pain in his smile. He came to a stop.

"Eh? Saihara-chan, why did you stop-"

"I was in Danganronpa."


	6. Resolve

"W-What?! You... Isn't it just acting?! You're an actor, right?!"

Kokichi yelled. Shuichi didn't know how to reply to his reaction.

"Kokichi... I survived Danganronpa."

Shuichi said.

"I was in the Killing Game."

Kokichi shook his head.

"That's terrible! W-Why would you ever want to participate in something like that..?"

Kokichi babbled. Shuichi couldn't take it, Kokichi and Kaede... they weren't the ones he knew. Shuichi felt weak. He was about to fall to the ground but Kokichi quickly ran and tried to prevent his fall, despite his weak and frail body. Kokichi was in a lot of pain, but when Shuichi was being picked up, he noticed glass scars on his neck, and even on his head.

"Kokichi... what's with these scars?"

Kokichi gulped.

"Nothing... I... don't... What... What are you talking about..?"

_Even **I **can see through a lie like that._

Shuichi repeated himself.

"Kokichi... why do you have so many scars?"

Kokichi gulped again. He mumbled something, before Shuichi asked,

"What was that?"

"It's nothing, Saihara-chan!"

Kokichi plastered a smile onto his face, before running up the hill childishly and playfully.

"Catch me if you can, Saihara-chan!"

Shuichi needed a moment. He reached out his hand... for a moment, he could see the white-clothed gremlin he used to know. Then, Shuichi smiled,

"Don't get too cocky! You're not that fast!"

_Maybe... I should look on the brighter side of life..._


End file.
